Box

[Jeff-20]

Box



This is an incomplete program effort. As always, I was not at all happy with the emulation. It started as a short program because it was squeezed onto the tail end of a tape after a full game. After I changed my idea to disk, I wanted to expand the program with music, custom graphics and other things. I never got around to it.

Notes:
For Unexpanded Vic-20s, Joystick required.

The premise is a little thin. It started out of a user graphic editor, but as Mayhem pointed out, it is similar to an obscure Gameboy game called picross(?).

Here's the brief instructions:

"The object of the game is recall a familiar symbol using an index of clues provided by the computer. The symbols are chosen at random and change every game. If you make ten mistakes, you will have failed your mission.

Move the joystick to position the cursor. Press the fire button to make a guess. Screen indicators will give you clues. Solve as many puzzles as you can before making ten mistakes."



I hope the instructions make more sense when you start to play it. I confess there really isn't much of a point to it. It's barely a game as it is now. I started to make continuous music, but the loop was too short and it got really annoying.

Thanks to Boray for helping me convert the file (still having trouble with me XE cable).

[Jeff-20]

C'mon, only 3 people downloaded this game (sigh)... It's not a bad project. Add a few custom characters, and it could be fun.

[carlsson]

Is this the same version as found on the Denial Collection?

[Jeff-20]

yes.

[nippur72]

Fantastic Jeffrey! this game seems to be made specifically for me !

I am a font "maniac", I designed fonts on every system I used, from the vic to amiga, to unix, even on Windows command prompt I have my own designed fonts. So playing this game is really a fun for me!

Can I beg for cursor keys implementation ?

Also, a nice addition would be having Commodore 64's character set (if there's space left).

Very well done, I wonder how do you have such great ideas!

[nippur72]

Need also: better score, perhaps a countdown timer and display of number of faults.

My top score is 7 boxes.

[carlsson]

Yeah, I have my own fixed-width 8x8 Windows font as well:
http://www.anders.sfks.se/files/anders.fon

It is particulary handy to use in text editors (such as Emacs) or SSH connections (e.g. PuTTY) whenever you want a display with many rows. I usually work with windows that are 80 columns x 65-70 rows, depending on the application and screen resolution. Regular fixed-width fonts tend to be so tall that you barely fit 35-40 rows onto one screen.

(but this was off-topic in this discussion.. sorry)

I still feel that if you add custom characters to Box, you have to rethink how the game is played and how many errors you're allowed to make. If you are going to figure out a pattern you don't have a clue about, it will become just as difficult as Box currently is for anyone who has never seen a VIC-20 before. Maybe you can add some other hint functions, like whether two pixels are adjacent in one row or column, how many neighbours one pixel has. Think a bit like Life or Minesweeper.

[Jeff-20]

You're right Carlsson. I was thinking of custom graphics with string variable descriptions (ie. "Rabbit" would be your clue).

CORRECTION:

Line 11 generates a random number with the variable Q. Remove Q and replace it with the number 64. It produces fewer choices in characters, but it will not give you the tedious bars and straight lines.

[carlsson]

Not sure if telling the player to draw a rabbit will help much...

[nippur72]

Jeff, does Box play lowercases ? I haven't seen them. My hi-score is now 9. BTW, are you still developing it or it's a closed project?

[Jeff-20]

I should have added lower case! At the moment it does not. But great suggestions like yours is what I want.

I made it open to anyone who wants to make changes. It is a really basic program at the moment. Definately not one of my finished products.